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    Geomedicine

    Geography and Personal Health

    Bill Davenhall, Esri

    August 2012

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    2GeomedicineGeography and Personal Health August 2012

    3 Introduction

    3 What Is Geomedicine?

    3 What Is GIS?

    4 The Missing Link

    4 Geography and Personal Health

    6 Improving Personal Health and Saety

    7 A Road Map to Better Health

    10 Answering Questions

    10 What Can Your Address Reveal about Your Health?

    12 Are There Toxins in Your Home?

    13 Are There Toxic Chemicals in Your Community?

    14 Is Your Local Water Supply Sae?

    15 Do You Live in a Food Desert?

    18 Geomedicine at Work18 The Geography o Cancer

    19 Mapping Breast and Prostate Cancer Patterns

    20 Busy Roads, Air Pollution, and Environmental Health

    Risks

    23 Does the Environment Really Matter to Your

    Health?

    23 GIS and Global Health

    25 Evaluating Geomedicine

    27 The Future o Geomedicine

    29 Bibliography

    31 Acknowledgments

    31 About the Author

    31 About Esri

    Table of Contents

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    3IntroductionGeomedicineGeography and Personal Health August 2012

    Linking ones own personal health status to specic geographic

    actors provides a powerul set o inormation that medical

    proessionals can use to improve the quality o the care they

    deliver. In this e-book, I set orth the notion that the emerging

    eld ogeomedicine will produce a new type o medical

    intelligence that will leverage national spatial data inrastructures

    to benet personal human health.

    What Is Geomedicine?

    At the present time, very lit tle health-relevant geographic

    inormation is available to a clinician at the time o a medical

    diagnostic encounter, and it is certainly not a typical part o

    a comprehensive medical record. Geomedicine uses modern

    inormation technology to deliver inormation on a patients

    potential environmental exposures into the hands o the clinicianwhile they are in the examination room.

    With geomedicine, we will experience an increase in the

    number o patients who benet rom a more precise clinical

    understanding o the links between their health and where they

    live, work, and play.

    What Is GIS?

    Geographic inormation system (GIS) technology integrates

    hardware, sotware, and data or capturing, managing, analyzing,

    and displaying all orms o geographically reerenced inormation.

    GIS allows us to view, understand, question, interpret, and

    visualize data in many ways that reveal relationships, patterns,

    and trends in the orm o maps, globes, reports, and charts. GIShelps us answer questions and solve problems by looking at data

    in a way that is quickly understood and easily shared.

    GIS has long been used to monitor the health o the planet.

    With geomedicine, GIS is now being used to monitor the health

    o individuals. It makes sense, because the health o people

    depends on the heath o the planetand thats the basic idea

    behind geomedicine.

    Introduction

    http://www.esri.com/industries/health/geomedicine/index.htmlhttp://www.gis.com/http://www.gis.com/http://www.esri.com/industries/health/geomedicine/index.html
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    4The Missing LinkGeomedicineGeography and Personal Health August 2012

    The Missing Link

    Geography and Personal Health

    In 2001, I was hit by a train. Not a real trainbut it might as well

    have been! My train was a heart attack. When it happened, I

    thought, Why me? Why now? Why here?I thought I was in good

    health. I had ollowed the advice o many doctors, but still the

    train had hit me. As I worked through my crisis, I started thinking

    about the many actors that could have contributed to my heartattack and wondered why I had not had better warning.

    Having worked in and around health care or many years, I had

    learned a great deal about how to avoid a heart attackyou

    know, the usual things: avoid risks, live a healthy liestyle, control

    my weight, choose better ood and drink, dont smoke, reduce

    stress . . . all excellent advice to a reasonable person.

    Like many o you, I had provided a lot o personal inormation

    to my health care providers over many years, such as amily,medication, surgical, disease, allergy, and social history as well

    as my liestyle inventory. I now wondered why none o that

    inormation had actually helped prevent the roaring train bearing

    down on me.

    I soon began to discover that there were many dierent reasons

    why I may have been hit by that train. In addition to all the

    usual suspectshigh blood pressure, high cholesterol, stress,

    geneticsI discovered that many environmental conditions and

    exposures could greatly increase my risk o a heart attack, things

    like air quality and exposures to pollutantssome that I did not

    even know existed in the communities where I lived. As I began

    to research the places where I had lived both as a child and an

    adult, I began to discover disturbing inormation on what Iand

    my doctorscould have already known about the quality o myWatch my presentation Your Health Depends on Where You Live romTEDMED 2009.

    http://www.ted.com/talks/lang/en/bill_davenhall_your_health_depends_on_where_you_live.htmlhttp://www.ted.com/talks/lang/en/bill_davenhall_your_health_depends_on_where_you_live.html
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    GeomedicineGeography and Personal Health August 2012 5The Missing Link

    various environments and what the impact may have been on my

    health.

    My search was not easy, even with use o the Internet. Large

    volumes o health inormation were spread across many

    governmental and health-related websites o varying quality.

    While I cannot prove that any specic environment caused my

    heart attack, there was plenty o evidence that some o the

    contaminants I had been exposed to in places where I hadlived were well-known precursors to circulatory and respiratory

    diseaseand, yes, heart attacks. It was at this moment that

    I realized that a physician looking at my health history, in

    the absence o any specic inormation about my unique

    environmental exposures, would be less likely to warn me, let

    alone guide me away rom the oncoming train wreck. The

    problem, as I have come to see it, is that none o my physicians

    had a useul or easy way o translating all that rich environmentalhealth research into something that would directly benet me.

    Why was it so dicult or me and my doctors to connect the

    dots?

    Every place I have ever lived is part of my medical history.

    The impact o breathing bad air in many o the places I have lived

    will surely ollow me wherever I go; thereore, my medical record

    should be automatically inormed about new research ndings o

    relevant health risks.

    Unortunately, today my medical recordand probably yours as

    wellis already a vast collection o clinical acts, observations,

    test results, and diagnostic conclusions but remains silent about

    the accumulation o environmental health impacts and risks. As

    both a patient and a good-health-seeking consumer, I need to

    be better served by the great wealth o environmental health

    Heart attack rates, the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) ToxicsRelease Inventory, and other inormation can show links between yourhealth and where you have lived.

    (Copyright Esri and the Trustees o Dartmouth College)

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    GeomedicineGeography and Personal Health August 2012 6The Missing Link

    research that is available. I also need to do what I can to increase

    the ability o physicians to consume and use this inormation in

    smarter ways.

    I invite you to think about the places youve lived or where

    you live today, and learn more about the impacts o your

    environments on your own health. Think about how you might

    approach your own health discovery process. There is much to

    learn about geomedicine and how it can become a valuable

    tool in clinical practice. I hope this discussion o geomedicine is

    the beginning o your personal journey to discover ways to stay

    healthy longer.

    Improving Personal Health and Safety

    There is abundant evidence that the use o geographic

    inormation has had a dramatic impact on the work o health

    proessionals. Medical epidemiologists, the ront line o disease

    detectives, have used GIS extensively in their ght against

    diseases that have a clear relationship between person, place,

    and time. GIS has also played an important role in protectingcommunities rom otherwise overlooked risks and toxic

    exposures.

    Geomedicine applies the power o GIS technology to personal

    health. As this concept continues to be adopted by more health

    care proessionals, physicians will increasingly use geomedicine

    to help diagnose, treat, and prevent illness and, in some cases,

    even make recommendations to patients on where they might

    live, work, and play.

    A trajectory density map o the Aiken area in the state o SouthCarolina shows high ozone days.

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    Health care accreditation and oversight bodies have also

    expressed interest in redening the geographic scope o patient

    saety, encouraging health care providers to consider the value

    o integrating internally generated health care inormation withexternally available population health inormation. Principal

    drivers or such a redenition o quality care and patient

    saety include the impacts o unintentional toxic exposures,

    compromised environmental conditions, unexpected situational

    dangers, untoward outcomes, medical misadventures (during or

    ater clinical care), and the lack o timely logistical inormation or

    distributing health proessionals and dispensing medical supplies.

    The persistent and unmistakable convergence o two powerul

    orcespersonal human health actors and environmental

    conditionscontinues to drive geomedicine orward. Using GIS

    to deliver geomedical intelligence to health care practitioners

    could prooundly alter the way providers view patient saety and

    quality o care.

    A Road Map to Better Health

    What do Hippocrates and Dr. Ethan Berke have in common?

    For starters, each chose to be a physician. Despite 2,400 years

    dierence in their agesHippocrates, o course, lived in about

    400 BC and Berke lives in the presentthey both understood the

    direct connection between the places in peoples lives and their

    respective impact on personal health. Hippocrates and Berke

    both concluded that your health depends on the air you breathe,

    the water you drink, and the environment in which you live. In

    act, Berke believes that geography matters in personal health,

    and so do many o his colleagues in amily medicine.

    Berke suggests that place is another useul vital sign to any

    primary care physiciansomeone who is concerned about the

    whole patient. This belie that our places are actually another

    vital sign is not so hard to grasp when he suggests in the Journal

    o the American Board o Family Medicine, Recommendations

    Assessing Levels o Perchlorate Contamination in the Water Supply(Perchlorate is a chemical associated with thyroid disease and cancer.)

    http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3174470http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3174470http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3174470http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3174470
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    made in the clinical setting pertaining to healthy liestylesmore

    activity, better diets, avoidance o potential toxins or pollutants

    cannot occur in a vacuum. I our patients are in a home or work

    environment that does not give them the opportunity to heedour recommendation, their chance o success will be diminished.

    Strong words, but good advice!

    Here is where I am on the same page with Hippocrates and

    Berke: where a person has lived must be considered as part o

    the context in which clinical decision making occurs. I would add

    that increasing the transparency and utility o the inormation on

    which physicians make recommendations and with which patients

    are encouraged to comply could change the way we all go about

    partnering with our personal physicians. So the next time you

    say, There is no place like home, think about its environmental

    context. The relationship we all have with our home, regardless

    o its amenities, is unique and potentially harmul to our health

    because o where that home is located geographically (and

    perhaps what products were used in its manuacture).You dont have to look very ar to nd the evidence on this

    subjectjust keep reading. While we are typically introduced

    to our rst home shortly ater birth and without a choice, ourpersonal and local environment either enhances or diminishes

    our start in lie in many dierent ways. So our chances o success

    in achieving lielong health and wellness are deeply connected

    to the places we spend those early years. O course, adults can

    control many aspects o their local environments. We can choose

    not to smoke or cook over open indoor fames and to use indoor

    sanitation. But children never get that choice.

    This map helps in understanding population density in relation to vaccinedistribution centers.

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    A child has to trust someone else (like parents and governments)

    to protect our air; water; soil; and, in some cases, exposure to

    things that can harm us. This is a big responsibility! You probably

    have your own story about geomedicineunusual healthsymptoms that cant be explained; cancers that run in certain

    amilies, neighborhoods, or communities; or the onset o chronic

    conditions that dont appear to have a genetic or liestyle link.

    Suddenly people start to pay attention to whats around them,

    searching or anything that might help discover a cause or oer

    relie or a cure.

    Much like a mountain stream has headwaters, so does personal

    health. Many will say that genetics is our health headwaters,

    but as the stream meanders across many dierent geographic

    landscapes, so does our health, accumulating unseen exposures

    and acing uncertain and not very apparent risks. The application

    o geomedicine, then, is about translating what we know about

    illness and disease, and what we understand about the role

    that our various environments play in making us sick (or well),

    into practical inormation that allows each o usphysician or

    consumerto make better choices about where we live and how

    we engage with our environment.

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    Answering Questions

    What Can Your Address Reveal about Your Health?

    Health and medical literature is lled with thousands o studies

    that link poverty to health status, especially among children

    and young adultsa preponderance o evidence suggests that

    a poor start in lie is a major health determinant. Poverty is

    not evenly spread across ethnic, racial, or demographic groups,

    nor is poverty just about how much money people have at theirdisposal. Sometimes the impact o poverty on health is subtle,

    such as low-perorming public schools with high truancy and low

    graduation rates, all contributing to poor health.

    A good example o what I am talking about is the school

    perormancewebsite created by the Washington Postthat

    provides public access to the Washington, DCs public school

    scorecards, including their physical and structural adequacy,

    health violations, and availability o qualied teachers. Ieducation is a marker or the uture health o our children, then a

    physicians knowing more about the likely educational outcome

    or a child might inorm treatment decisions and ultimately impact

    a prognosis. Another good example o this type o street address

    discovery is the New York City Mayors Oce website that

    contains a neighborhood statistics interactive web application.

    I you live in New York City, you can enter your street address

    and get a wealth o inormation about what is happening in your

    neighborhood, rom public health and saety to education and

    community resources.

    Much like a blood test provides useul clues to underlying health

    problems that doctors cant always see at the surace, your

    street address can also provide valuable contextual inormation,medically speaking. This is possible because o a vast system

    o linked data rom the US Census Bureaus enumeration

    program. This program helps market research organizations

    better understand what is happening around yourom retail

    transactions at your local pharmacy to what you and your

    neighbors like to eat and watch on TV. Specic knowledge

    about the composition o and likely behaviors hidden within

    your neighborhood is unlocked when you provide your physicianwith your street address. A physician advising a patient to eat

    more resh ruits and vegetables when there is no grocery store

    oering these oods within a reasonable distance will probably

    result in a noncompliant patient.

    My argument is straightorward: physicians do not use, or clinical

    purposes, all the inormation that patients, like me, routinely

    http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-srv/metro/interactives/dcschools/scorecard.htmlhttp://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-srv/metro/interactives/dcschools/scorecard.htmlhttp://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-srv/metro/interactives/dcschools/scorecard.htmlhttp://gis.nyc.gov/ops/mmr/address.jsp?app=MMRhttp://gis.nyc.gov/ops/mmr/address.jsp?app=MMRhttp://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-srv/metro/interactives/dcschools/scorecard.htmlhttp://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-srv/metro/interactives/dcschools/scorecard.html
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    provide (such as street address); they rely only on what they

    observe and receive in the standard examination. My street

    address, however, contains important clues about my economic

    and social contextclues that could help my physician diagnose,treat, and advise me. In act, my physician could know most o

    this about me even beore I walk through the exam room door!

    The challenge o equipping my doctor with useul, geographically

    relevant inormation is great. My physician recently suggested

    to me that she would have little time or making assessments

    o such nonclinical inormationjust something else to clutter

    up my charts, and more importantly, I have not been trained to

    understand how to use it. And she is rightphysicians in the

    United States dont have adequate inormation delivery systems

    or medical training experiences that help them learn how to

    leverage this type o inormation. This is where geomedicinecomes into play, by creating new ways to see the patients

    surrounding environmentboth as it is now and as it was in

    the past. Accessing and using data that adds intelligence to

    the medical encounter should be the driving orce behind

    modernizing our health inormation technology.

    When it comes to my health, I want my doctors to use all the

    inormation I provide to themnot to be guessing about my

    ability to ollow their instructions and seek recommended

    treatments and therapies. I want them to be acutely aware o my

    potential ability in ollowing through with their advicephysically,

    culturally, and economically. The practice o gleaning valuable

    inormation rom something as simple as my street address has

    been around or decades, yet medicine has ailed to incorporate

    it into my medical record in useul ways.

    I believe its time we help health care proessionals do thisby building into their medical inormatics technologies better

    ways to link to rich data that adds new value. The tidal wave o

    personal health data that is headed to our doctors oces as

    the result o real-time biomedical and environmental monitoring

    sensors leaves medicineand my own physicianlittle choice

    but to attempt to harness these new data streams to benet my

    personal health.

    Elkhart County, Indianas Whats In My Back Yardapplication gives the public access to inormation orevaluating potential health risks in their communities. Thismap shows leaking underground storage tanks (red dots)

    and Toxics Release Inventory sites (green squares).

    http://www.esri.com/industries/health/geomedicine/index.htmlhttp://www.esri.com/news/arcwatch/0910/elkhart-brownfields.htmlhttp://www.esri.com/news/arcwatch/0910/elkhart-brownfields.htmlhttp://www.esri.com/news/arcwatch/0910/elkhart-brownfields.htmlhttp://www.esri.com/industries/health/geomedicine/index.html
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    GeomedicineGeography and Personal Health August 2012 12Answering Questions

    Are There Toxins in Your Home?

    Did you grow up in a house that was built beore 1978? One

    progressive community aairs department is linking geographic

    inormation to potential environmental health-risk inormation to

    help protect young children. I you are pregnant or have children

    or grandchildren younger than six years o age who will spend

    any signicant time in a house built beore 1978, then read on!

    Beore my sixth birthday, I had already lived in several houses

    that were built long beore 1977, when the US Environmental

    Protection Agency ban on lead in paint took eect. This means

    that I am among millions o people who were most likely exposedto unhealthy levels o lead. Most o the lead in my blood

    probably came rom simple things most children dolicking or

    chewing the painted suraces o tables, walls, staircase railings,

    doors, window casings, and toysor rom breathing lead dust

    generated by sanded or chipped paint containing lead.

    I am certainly not alone in having ingested more than a air share

    o lead during my rst six years o lie. Decades later, public

    health departments around the world are still on an aggressivemission to get rid o this toxic material, particularly rom the

    bodies (and blood) o young children. There are many products

    that allow lead to get into the blood o a child (e.g., water pipes,

    cosmetics, imported candies, cooking utensils, painted toys, and

    dust rom making handcrats). Public health experts go as ar as

    to warn that pregnant women should not remain in a house built

    This map shows predicted ozone concentration in the state o SouthCarolina.

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    GeomedicineGeography and Personal Health August 2012 13Answering Questions

    beore 1978 that is undergoing remodeling, where old paint may

    be sanded and dust is not contained.

    At last count, more than a quarter o a million children aged one

    to ve years in the United States alone have unacceptable blood

    lead levels that are leading to learning disabilities and behavioral

    problems and, when at very high levels, seizures, coma, and

    even death. The State o New Jersey Department o Community

    Aairswebsite allows you to check a dwelling address online to

    see i lead contamination has been detected or is in the process

    o being cleaned up. In some cases, you can even nd out i its a

    lead-ree dwelling.

    Websites such as this, I strongly believe, are the beginning o

    the response to the publics demand or environmental health

    transparency. Such websites usher in a whole new dose o public

    empowerment. This site validates the notion that geomedicines

    chie contribution will be to help people connect the dots and

    take health knowledge to the next level by linking the whatto

    the where and when at the household level, since this is where

    much o the clinical knowledge and environmental health impactsbecome relevant to each o us.

    Are There Toxic Chemicals in Your Community?

    Over the past several years, I have visited numerous websites and

    used a number o applications created by government agencies,

    newspapers, health research organizations, and others, that are

    intended to help us better understand our local environments

    rom water quality and lead poisoning in children to school

    conditions and local cancer cases. These services help people

    nd out more about the places they live and see the connectionsbetween public health issues and their own personal health-

    seeking interests, embarking on a journey o geomedical sel-

    discovery.

    One o these ree services is an application that allows you to

    enter the street addresses o all the places you have lived or

    worked within the United States. Ater entering your addresses,

    you can create a report listing exactly what toxic chemicals are

    Using the Explore Your Place History application, you can view heartattack rates, the US EPAs Toxics Release Inventory, and more, or areaswhere youve lived and worked.

    http://www.cdc.gov/nceh/lead/http://www.cdc.gov/nceh/lead/http://www.njleadsafe.info/http://www.njleadsafe.info/http://www.njleadsafe.info/http://www.esri.com/industries/health/geomedicine/map.htmlhttp://www.esri.com/industries/health/geomedicine/map.htmlhttp://www.njleadsafe.info/http://www.njleadsafe.info/http://www.cdc.gov/nceh/lead/http://www.cdc.gov/nceh/lead/
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    GeomedicineGeography and Personal Health August 2012 14Answering Questions

    close to your places. You can access the place history application

    using a web browseror download the application or youriPhone

    or iPad.

    What makes this application unique? While the US EPA and

    the National Library o Medicine (NLM) have sites that provide

    citizens access to data about hazardous chemicals, neither allows

    building, exploring, saving, or sharing a lietime place history.

    I believe that having a geographically accurate place history,

    maintained and controlled by consumers, can help inorm us

    and our health care providers about the potential environmental

    health burdens we all accumulate over a lietime. As newlocal health data is published at smaller levels o geography,

    consumers can come to expect their place history to reveal a

    wide range o useul inormation suitable or sharing with their

    amily and their doctors.

    In the initial release o the place history application, the locations

    o the Toxics Release Inventory rom the US EPA were mapped

    against a background showing the death rates or heart attacks

    in people enrolled in Medicare. I would encourage you to createyour own place history and see what you discover. Please also

    take the time to read the About section o the place history

    application to learn more about the limitations o the data.

    Is Your Local Water Supply Safe?

    Unlike all the other nutrients we ingest, water is mandatoryno

    one can live very long without consuming a certain amount o

    water on a regular basis. While there is expert medical debate on

    how much water a person actually requires daily, it is clear that

    without a reliable supply o clean drinking water, our personal

    health is surely compromised. Finding inormation about the

    quality o your drinking water is not an easy task unless, o course,

    you already know what you are looking or. It also helps to be a

    chemist! Iyou cant nd this data easily, do you think your doctor

    would have any better luck?

    I would wager that there is not much water quality inormation

    in your medical record unless, o course, you have been treated

    or waterborne disease. Most o us who live in the United States

    dont give water quality a second thoughtbut you might be

    surprised to learn how water quality varies rom city to city.

    University o Cincinnati has a very useul and simple-to-use

    application that shows the water quality or metropolitan

    areas across the United States. The site allows visitors toidentiy metropolitan areas in the United States and discover

    concentrations o selected chemicals as well as the presence

    o biologic pathogens occurring in the drinking water o these

    communities. In many parts o the United States, specic harmul

    chemicals may dominate a regions drinking water supplies;

    thus, a physician would be expected to understand what these

    http://itunes.apple.com/us/app/my-place-history/id396902848?mt=8http://www.esri.com/industries/health/geomedicine/map.htmlhttp://appshopper.com/healthcare-fitness/my-place-historyhttp://appshopper.com/healthcare-fitness/my-place-historyhttp://www.epa.gov/tri/trichemicals/chemicallists/RY2009ChemicalList.pdfhttp://www.uc.edu/gissa/projects/drinkingwater/http://www.uc.edu/gissa/projects/drinkingwater/http://www.uc.edu/gissa/projects/drinkingwater/http://www.uc.edu/gissa/projects/drinkingwater/http://www.epa.gov/tri/trichemicals/chemicallists/RY2009ChemicalList.pdfhttp://appshopper.com/healthcare-fitness/my-place-historyhttp://appshopper.com/healthcare-fitness/my-place-historyhttp://www.esri.com/industries/health/geomedicine/map.htmlhttp://itunes.apple.com/us/app/my-place-history/id396902848?mt=8
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    GeomedicineGeography and Personal Health August 2012 15Answering Questions

    dierences in water quality could actually mean or diagnosing a

    particular health problem.

    In spite o all the state and ederal agencies charged to measure

    and report on the quality o our drinking water, I could only nd

    one national-level websitethe New York Timessitethat led

    me to actual water-quality testing data or my city. While the

    EPA website has a great deal o useul inormation, it was more

    challenging to discover an actual water quality report or my

    community. I also know that many local communities provide

    consumer-riendly water quality reports to their citizens, but an

    interactive website that allows me to compare my citys water

    quality to another city somewhere else in the United States

    would be o great value, especially i I am thinking o moving

    or evaluating the impact o water quality on a specic health

    problem I am experiencing.

    I youre like me, you have lived in more than one house and

    probably ingested drinking water without knowledge o its

    quality (other than its color, taste, or smell). I am certain that the

    tap water I drink and use in ood preparation is as important tomy health as a lot o other, less conspicuous threats.

    Geomedicine is all about connecting environmental inormation

    to our personal health and, more importantly, encouraging our

    personal physicians to use more o this type o inormation as

    they work with us to nd answers to our health problems. I I am

    careul enough to live to see my ninety-th birthday, I will have

    consumed about 3 billion drops o drinking waterabout 33,000

    gallons, or about 124 tons. Anyway you calculate it, thats a lot o

    any substance going into anyones body, and its certainly worth

    taking an interest in its quality.

    Do You Live in a Food Desert?

    To me, better health means eating better and getting enough

    exercise. Grocery shopping is something most o us do at least

    once a week. I recently heard a travel host talking about how

    great it is to be close to three local bakeries, several butcher

    shops, and hal a dozen local grocery stores within an easy

    10-minute walk. O course, this travel host was talking about a

    large European city; in the United States, most o us dont walk to

    the nearest grocery storewe drive our cars.

    When we do go to the grocery store, we may not even buy

    wholesome oodslet alone resh ruits and vegetables. I

    physical proximity to a grocery store stocked with wholesome

    ood is critical to getting and staying healthy, then it is crucial or

    us to nd a way to be assured that grocery stores are locatedwithin easy reachboth physically and nancially. Just as we

    have come to recognize the need to treat unacceptable rates o

    crime, poverty, or disease and the need or parks and sae places

    to walk, we should also be considering access to wholesome,

    quality ood at reasonable prices.

    http://www.epa.gov/http://www.epa.gov/
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    GeomedicineGeography and Personal Health August 2012 16Answering Questions

    Food desertsare dened by the US Department o Agriculture

    (USDA) as urban neighborhoods and rural towns without ready

    access to resh, healthy, and aordable ood. These deserts are

    essentially geographic places that lack reasonable access to agrocery store.

    Reasonable is a relative term. The 20-something couple living in

    an upstairs apartment in a large, urban environment may have no

    problem running through city streets to buy groceries at a store

    three miles away. However, the retired woman down the hall in

    the adjacent apartment who had a hip replacement last year may

    not have the stamina to walk more than a ew blocks with heavy

    bags.

    How many ood deserts are we talking about? According to the

    USDAs Economic Research Service (ERS) report, more than

    23 million Americans live within a ood desert, regardless o

    whether they live in an urban or rural area. However, physical

    access to ood or groceries can be dicult to measure due to the

    many actors that create ood deserts.

    To better understand the problem, two impressive web

    applications were created to display the geographic locations

    o ood deserts as well as provide estimates o the underservedpopulation by census tract:

    USDAs Food Deserts Locator

    Megacitys Food Desert Finder

    These interactive maps may help increase the publics awareness

    o the need to improve ood access as well as inorm real estate

    developers and grocery store executives o the geographic

    demands or better access to wholesome oods.

    Johns Hopkins University Center or a Livable Future recently

    studied Baltimores ood deserts as part o the Maryland Food

    System Mapping Project. This study noted that although the

    generally accepted description o a ood desert is a residential

    area thats more than one mile rom a grocery store, supermarket,

    or other ood vendor with a variety o resh ruit, vegetables,Megacitys Food Desert Finderincreases the publics awareness o theneed to improve ood access.

    http://apps.ams.usda.gov/fooddeserts/foodDeserts.aspxhttp://www.ers.usda.gov/data/fooddesert/http://megacity.esri.com/fooddeserts/#-10523976.579302637;4721708.906047437;9http://megacity.esri.com/fooddeserts/#-10523976.579302637;4721708.906047437;9http://megacity.esri.com/fooddeserts/#-10523976.579302637;4721708.906047437;9http://megacity.esri.com/fooddeserts/#-10523976.579302637;4721708.906047437;9http://megacity.esri.com/fooddeserts/#-10523976.579302637;4721708.906047437;9http://www.ers.usda.gov/data/fooddesert/http://apps.ams.usda.gov/fooddeserts/foodDeserts.aspx
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    GeomedicineGeography and Personal Health August 2012 17Answering Questions

    dairy, and meat, most urban planners claim the acceptable

    walking distance or public transportation is only a quarter mile.

    Demonstrating the need or such tools, the Johns Hopkins study

    used a quarter-mile walking distance combined with income datato account or lower-income households, which are unlikely to

    have a car to drive to the nearest available ull-service grocery

    store.

    We all make ood-buying decisions based on personal preerence

    and price, but i youre a working, single parent, are you really

    going to carve out 45 minutes rom your evening to prepare

    sauted salmon with vegetables and brown rice? Would you be

    able to nd these oods in a corner convenience store? Throwing

    a rozen pizza in the oven would be a much aster (and less

    expensive) dinner solutionone thats readily available at most

    street-corner stores.

    It has become increasingly clear that where we live, work, and

    play are intrinsically intertwined with our health and, thus, with

    our ood choices. Our choice in what we eat is all too oten

    infuenced largely by what we see and how hungry we actually

    eel. Making it easier to see, touch, and purchase better ood

    seems a worthwhile activity that we all can support.

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    18Geomedicine at WorkGeomedicineGeography and Personal Health August 2012

    Geomedicine at Work

    The Geography of Cancer

    Inspired by a bill introduced into the New York State Legislature

    several years ago, the New York State Health Department has

    liberated some powerul data about cancer incidences and

    mapped it at the ZIP Code level. I you dont live in the state o

    New York but still want to see the incidence o cancers in the

    county where you live (there are 3,141 counties in the US), you canvisit the National Cancer Institutes website, where every state is

    represented.

    While presenting cancer data at this small geographic level is still

    very new, the technology behind it is not. In act, I would expect

    that as more people learn about this site, there will be a demand

    or more inormation sharingsuch as cancer incidence rates,

    more current population data to calculate rates, and interactive

    graphs and charts to enhance the visitors overall experience.

    Mapping our health geographically is a great opportunity or

    a health department to begin educating the public in ways

    that make sense to everyone and not just the needs o health

    proessionals. The site, as you would expect, has several

    important disclaimers and caveats that visitors are encouraged to

    read. Nevertheless, knowing more about where cancers actually

    Above is a map o Caliornia human papilloma virus(HPV) cases by outpatient diagnosis in each county. HPVinection is responsible or 99.7 percent o all cases ocervical cancer.

    http://statecancerprofiles.cancer.gov/http://statecancerprofiles.cancer.gov/
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    GeomedicineGeography and Personal Health August 2012 19Geomedicine at Work

    occur is intriguing. This site engages us and eeds our sel-

    discovery. You might ask yoursel why its taken governments so

    long to realize the publics interest in looking at this type o data.

    Linking geography to personal health using interactive mapping

    technology at this more useul scale (such as ZIP Code and

    census tracts in the United States) uels incredible curiosity

    about the possible harmul exposures around the places we live

    and work. It also provides a public window or seeing potential

    environmental contamination in our communities. So, will we all

    become citizen epidemiologists? Well, perhaps. This could

    be similar to so many other areas o our society where we have

    witnessed a deproessionalization o a complex eld. Maybe it s

    healths turn?

    Thanks to the Internet and the development o sotware

    applications that demystiy complex processes and data

    coupled with the publics interest in personal healthpublic

    health agencies around the world will experience increasing

    numbers o curious and tech-savvy health-seeking consumers

    demanding much more health-relevant data delivered creatively

    over the Internet. I you are like me, you will wonder why every

    state does not make cancer data easily available.

    Many people will take issue with the validity o exposing small-

    area cancer data to the average citizen and showing at the

    same time the exact locations o harmul chemicals regulated

    by governments. I happen to believe that the more inormation

    I have about the geographic incidence o cancer, the more

    inormed I am as a health-seeking consumer. What about you?

    Mapping Breast and Prostate Cancer Patterns

    The emerging eld o geomedicine cant move ast enough or

    many o us who ear the threat o cancerparticularly o the

    breast or prostate. In a recently published study that used the

    geographic microscope, as I like to reer to the geographic

    analysis o disease, it was ound that the incidence o these two

    cancers is not a random event. While the authors state that they

    dont exactly know the underlying actors that cause these hot

    spotsthe areas seen in red on the mapsthe analysis does

    reveal the wide geographic variability in where people with these

    types o cancer live. The maps are compelling because they

    reveal distinct geographic patterns.

    http://www.ij-healthgeographics.com/content/pdf/1476-072X-8-53.pdfhttp://www.ij-healthgeographics.com/content/pdf/1476-072X-8-53.pdf
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    GeomedicineGeography and Personal Health August 2012 20Geomedicine at Work

    The authors suggest, and you can see or yoursel, that bothbreast cancer (map above) and prostate cancer (map below)

    cluster geographically, with a strong northsouth distribution.

    You can learn more about this study.

    I I lived or more than a couple o years in any one o the red hot

    spots, I would probably be more proactive in seeking requent

    screenings or prostate or breast cancerwouldnt you?

    More alarming to me, however, was the nding that in counties

    with a high incidence o breast cancer, there was also a high

    incidence o prostate cancer. The authors suggest that this is

    happening because these two cancers might have similar or

    common risk actors (e.g., the environment).

    Busy Roads, Air Pollution, and

    Environmental Health Risks

    A number o important studies over the last several years have

    linked childrens respiratory health problems with high densities

    o vehicular roadway trac. Using modern geographic mapping

    techniques, health researchers have concluded that the proximity

    o roadways to places where children spend a great deal o their

    day experience higher than acceptable levels o exposure to air

    pollution.

    Presently there are only a ew ways parents could check on airquality in their community, and many o these websites dont

    incorporate modern interactive mapping eatures. Department o

    Health and Human Services (DHHS) secretary Kathleen Sebelius

    recently declared that DHHS needs to make health data more

    useul to citizens. Perhaps a good place to begin would be with

    http://www.ij-healthgeographics.com/content/pdf/1476-072X-8-53.pdfhttp://webcache.googleusercontent.com/search?q=cache:pVb6nM5tXv0J:www.modernhealthcare.com/article/20100607/NEWS/100609968http://webcache.googleusercontent.com/search?q=cache:pVb6nM5tXv0J:www.modernhealthcare.com/article/20100607/NEWS/100609968http://www.ij-healthgeographics.com/content/pdf/1476-072X-8-53.pdf
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    GeomedicineGeography and Personal Health August 2012 21Geomedicine at Work

    interactive maps that identiy asthma corridors and help parents

    keep their kids out o them.

    I live in the greater Los Angeles area, well-known or its polluted

    air, so I would expect that the best Internet sites would be based

    here. But as you will see on the South Coast Air Quality District

    site, inormation is or very broad regions and does not revealneighborhood exposures or the exact locations o child care

    acilities, schools, parks, and playgrounds. Hourly trac volumes

    are also absent. To add these locations and trac volumes does

    not seem to be that dicult, and it would certainly improve the

    useulness o the map or citizens.

    I you dont live in the Los Angeles area, then you might want to

    visit the American Lung Association website, where you can enter

    your ZIP Code and see a report on the number o people who

    will likely have some type o health problem tr iggered by poor airquality.

    AirNow, a consortium o international, ederal, state, local, and

    media partners, has a website where you can check out your ZIP

    Code area and discover hourly air qualitybut be sure to read

    the Frequently Asked Questions section. This air quality map

    could benet rom more useul, consumer-riendly eatures and

    interactive capabilities such as roads, trac volumes, and satellite

    imagery.

    I the research carried out in Caliornia is relevant to other states

    and communities (and it probably is), the discovery that child

    careacilities within 600 eet (the length o two ootball elds) o

    a major highway (dened as having more than 50,000 vehicles

    a day) have more sick kids should be a wake-up call or every

    community. The research also suggests that about 7 percent o

    all the Caliornia day care acilities and 5 percent o the schools

    that children under 12 attend are too close to a busy highway.

    While this research certainly inorms citizens, I wonder why no

    one has used geographic inormation technology to estimate

    exactly how many children might be too close to a busy

    highwaynot just where they attend child care orschool but also

    where they actually live. Every time I fy over a large urban area, I

    The South Coast Air Quality District website oers air quality inormationor very broad regions but does not reveal neighborhood exposures.

    http://www3.aqmd.gov/webappl/gisaqi2/VEMap3D.aspxhttp://www.stateoftheair.org/http://www.airnow.gov/index.cfm?action=airnow.pointmapshttp://ajph.aphapublications.org/doi/pdfplus/10.2105/AJPH.2005.077727http://ajph.aphapublications.org/doi/pdfplus/10.2105/AJPH.2005.077727http://ajph.aphapublications.org/doi/pdfplus/10.2105/AJPH.2005.077727http://ajph.aphapublications.org/doi/pdfplus/10.2105/AJPH.2005.077727http://ehp03.niehs.nih.gov/article/info:doi/10.1289/ehp.6566http://www3.aqmd.gov/webappl/gisaqi2/VEMap3D.aspxhttp://www3.aqmd.gov/webappl/gisaqi2/VEMap3D.aspxhttp://ehp03.niehs.nih.gov/article/info:doi/10.1289/ehp.6566http://ajph.aphapublications.org/doi/pdfplus/10.2105/AJPH.2005.077727http://ajph.aphapublications.org/doi/pdfplus/10.2105/AJPH.2005.077727http://ajph.aphapublications.org/doi/pdfplus/10.2105/AJPH.2005.077727http://www.airnow.gov/index.cfm?action=airnow.pointmapshttp://www.stateoftheair.org/http://www3.aqmd.gov/webappl/gisaqi2/VEMap3D.aspx
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    GeomedicineGeography and Personal Health August 2012 22Geomedicine at Work

    see many houses and apartments very close to (within 600 eet

    o) busy highways! I you have ever had a child who had a chronic

    respiratory illness with symptoms o wheezing and coughing,

    then you know that having 10 million children across the UnitedStates with asthma (about 18 percent o all children under

    12 years o age) is unacceptable.

    Maybe its time to rethink our approach as to where we build

    houses and locate child care acilities, schools, parks, and other

    places where a large number o children spend a majority o

    their timeawake or asleep. From personal experience, taking

    better care o a childs lungs is a ar better investment than

    spending money on treating the lielong damage that bad air will

    contribute. The window o opportunity is very smallthe rst

    12 years o lie!

    In translating public health research into inormation that helps

    us all make better choices about where we raise our uture

    generationour childrenwe will also come to expect more

    rom those who measure and report on the quality o our air.

    http://ehp03.niehs.nih.gov/article/fetchArticle.action?articleURI=info%3Adoi%2F10.1289%2Fehp.0901232http://ehp03.niehs.nih.gov/article/fetchArticle.action?articleURI=info%3Adoi%2F10.1289%2Fehp.0901232
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    23Does the Environment Really Matter to Your Health?GeomedicineGeography and Personal Health August 2012

    Does the Environment Really Matter to Your Health?

    GIS and Global Health

    The use o GIS is rapidly spreading around the world as one o

    the most important technologies to help nations address their

    most serious health goals including reducing disparity in available

    medical services, improving access to services, and preventing

    the spread o disease. Striving or ubiquitous health could mean

    health everywhere, anytime. I acknowledge that health is on a

    continuumone does not arrive at good health accidentally.

    Personal health begins beore birth and continues throughout a

    persons lie. Access to health and human services has become

    one o the major determinants o the degree o health attained.

    Multiply one persons health by billions, and this brings us to

    global health.

    The strength o modern GIS technology extends well beyond

    geographically relevant data analysis and powerul data

    visualization. It excels as a medium that helps inorm, organize,

    and deliver health and human services. GIS supports every web-

    based service locator, directions-nding website, and consumer-acing inormation and reerral service sponsored by health

    organizations.

    As nations strive to protect their citizens rom the threat o

    inectious diseases such as legionella, dengue ever, West

    Nile virus, tuberculosis, or avian infuenza, GIS has become an

    important technology or adding intelligence to existing disease

    surveillance systems at the local, regional, and national levels.

    GIS technologys ability to author, publish, and share criticalinormation about the spatial dynamics o disease makes it,

    without exception, the technology o choice or accelerating the

    detection and identication o disease clusters. GIS technologys

    capacity to reach beyond geopolitical boundaries makes it highly

    desirable in public health emergencies and responses.

    The Ministry o Environmental Protection o the Peoples Republico China uses GIS to reveal manuacturing sites.

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    GeomedicineGeography and Personal Health August 2012 24Does the Environment Really Matter to Your Health?

    As every person is di erent, so too is every community and

    nation. However, the various ways that inormation technology is

    used seem undamentally parallel. The ways in which GIS is used

    by health and human services organizations are more similar thandissimilar; thereore, one o the greatest promises o GIS is its

    ability to speak a common language. In my opinion, developing

    a common language about health and human services helps

    nations move orward.

    The adoption o any inormation technology is ultimately a

    unction o its ability to produce results such as creating evidence,

    identiying inequities, better inorming decision makers, and

    aiding more responsive actions and interventions to protecthuman health.

    Today, more than 129 (65%) national health ministries located

    across every continent use some type o GIS technology. In

    developing nations where modern inormation technology is

    resource challenged, GIS technology is being deployed in the

    orm o specialty epidemiological sotware distributed at low or

    no cost to health proessionals through organizations such as the

    World Health Organization, Pan-American Health Organization,

    and the US Centers or Disease Control and Prevention (CDC).

    As GIS technology continues to enjoy wider adoption in health

    and human services organizations across all types o government

    and private health care organizations, knowledge about our

    communitiesespecially how our local environments impact our

    personal healthwill command greater attention by community

    leaders everywhere. The ability to respond to emergencies and

    prepare citizens or disasters, such as pandemics, cannot be

    overlooked or underresourced in regard to inormation systems.

    Global health begins at home. The obligation o nations to help

    citizens have a sae, healthy passage through lie is neither a small

    nor simple matter. Dedication by health proessionals in building

    eective systems and practices must be supported by evidence

    This H1N1 Operational Viewer lets health ocials and the general publictrack infuenza cases.

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    GeomedicineGeography and Personal Health August 2012 25Does the Environment Really Matter to Your Health?

    and results. It also takes knowledgeable people and progressive

    technologies to promote condence in the inormation that is

    communicated.

    Delivering on the goal o global health requires unrelenting

    devotion to leveraging todays knowledge technologies to

    mitigate the problems we ace today. GIS will certainly play a

    large role in moving communities and their nations orward,

    and when we move orward, everyone everywhere has a better

    chance to attain the desirable health that is so needed in the

    world.

    Evaluating Geomedicine

    The geomedicine idea has recently been receiving a lot o

    attentionat TEDMED 2009, Microsots Health Tech Today, the

    Hufngton Post, and elsewhere. This exposure has led to many

    interesting and thought-provoking comments about geomedicine

    and the larger question o the importance o environment to

    health. Id like to address some o the comments and concerns

    here.

    Some have elt the evidence o relationships between our

    environment and human health was marginal, at best, while

    others have stressed its importance. One reader mentioned the

    vastness o the evidence in the scientic literature about the

    harmul eects o environmental contamination on human health,

    while others took issue with the notion that our environments are

    as important as liestyles or genetics. Several comments warned

    that knowing more about the potential hazards o environmental

    impacts on health would only promote more lawsuits.

    One comment in particular that caused me to finch was a

    suggestion that people with limited economic opportunities and

    less access to medical care tend to live in less healthy places. This,

    i it is really true, would have huge societal implications. Which

    This analysis examined the probability o thyroid cancer rates in children inBelarus as a result o the Chernobyl nuclear reactor explosion.

    http://www.ted.com/talks/lang/en/bill_davenhall_your_health_depends_on_where_you_live.htmlhttp://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5qxF_RriVd4http://www.huffingtonpost.com/bill-davenhall/http://www.huffingtonpost.com/bill-davenhall/http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5qxF_RriVd4http://www.ted.com/talks/lang/en/bill_davenhall_your_health_depends_on_where_you_live.html
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    GeomedicineGeography and Personal Health August 2012 26Does the Environment Really Matter to Your Health?

    comes rstbad health or unhealthy communities? Do you think

    that the poor are naturally drawn to less healthy places?

    A physician commented that my personal story overreached the

    environmental impacts on my health, suggesting, however, that

    the idea o creating a place history had merit. Some people

    wished or solid evidence (correlations and causation) in what I

    had to say. Even the comments that were critical o the strength

    o environmental evidence were supportive o the idea that

    society should get busy cleaning up known compromised

    environments. Much to my surprise, there were many comments

    that refected peoples concern over governments role in

    watching society too closely and the potential abuse o this type

    o inormation or its analysis by health insurance companies and

    governments to deny coverage or otherwise limit our economic

    opportunities.

    It was also suggested that i your physician thinks your symptoms

    refect an environmental cause, then he/she would certainly ask

    you more about your personal geographic place history. Many

    agreed on the value o creating a personal place history, and

    many others shared stories where they believed overlooked

    environmental actors could potentially explain a personal health

    event or condition. One physician said that this idea is an

    incredibly commonsense approach [that] could help unveil risk

    actors rom your past and potential health issues to look out or.

    This doctor suggested that patients should tell their doctor i

    they think they have been exposed to a toxic substance. While

    I certainly agree with that advice, it is oten what we dont

    know and see in and around our environments that is the most

    harmul to our health. In general, comments refected a growing

    awareness o the potential impact o environmental actors, and

    most elt it was smart to tr y to use all the available inormation

    when it comes to understanding what makes them sick.

    Analysis o Air Pollution by the Brno City Municipality

    (Courtesy o ARCDATA Praha, s.r.o.)

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    GeomedicineGeography and Personal Health August 2012 27Does the Environment Really Matter to Your Health?

    The recent news stories o the identication o a long-term

    pediatric cancer cluster in Florida by the US CDC and o the

    contaminated well water and soil rom the long-term disposal o

    hexavalent chromium in a rural Pennsylvania community by theUS EPA have people worried. One thing these events have in

    common is the need to discover the many people who lived near

    this contamination long beore it was identied as a potential

    threatthus, a compelling need or an accurate personal place

    history linked to our electronic medical record.

    In my opinion, those who are building electronic health records

    supposedly or the benet o patients and health-seeking

    consumersmust make sure we have a reliable way to link our

    personal place history to the sophisticated electronic health

    records they are building now.

    The Future of Geomedicine

    A key element in the growing acceptance o geomedicine will

    be the exploitation o the body o research produced by the

    health science community. Also critical will be the ability to

    build and organize relevant medical content that links place to

    health conditions, risks, and outcomes. For example, research

    examining the impact o ambient air quality on cardiovascular

    and respiratory disease is under way in many nations o the world,

    and research is conrming that a patients health is related to

    proximity to high-volume roadways, an idea being examined

    using GIS. There is a substantial body o scientic literature that

    describes the impact o geographic location on health problems

    such as cancer, diabetes, hypertension, and osteoporosis, and

    the importance o place is becoming better understood.

    A key element o the acceptance o geomedicine by physicians

    will be the useulness and accessibility o this body o research.

    Also critical is the ability o medical libraries and health research

    organizations to make their data holdings accessible over the

    Internet. Integrating a patients place history into existing

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    GeomedicineGeography and Personal Health August 2012 28Does the Environment Really Matter to Your Health?

    electronic medical and personal health records is one o the

    principal roles o todays geographic expert system. Just as

    the collection o amily medical history helps clinicians look or

    certain predispositions to diseases, geographic place will providethe context within which the clinician can assess environmental

    actors and make judgments about diagnosis, treatment, and

    prognosis.

    Much like the capabilities o lab systems to make clinicians aware

    o panic values, GIS can provide the same early warnings

    to suggest to clinicians environmental actors to be explored.

    Geomedicine has the potential to transorm the way physicians

    see patients and to provide a more holistic view o the many

    hidden actors that oten deeat achieving successul long-term

    health outcomes.

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    29BibliographyGeomedicineGeography and Personal Health August 2012 29BibliographyGeomedicineGeography and Personal Health August 2012

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    Berke, Ethan M. Geographic InormationSystems (GIS): Recognizing the Importance oPlace in Primary Care Research and Practice.Journal o the American Board o Family Medicine,JanuaryFebruary 2010.

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    -environment-matt_b_535041.html

    Davenhall, Bill. Environmental Health Watch: AreThere Toxins in Your Home? Hufngton Post, May13, 2010.hufngtonpost.com/bill-davenhall/environmental

    -health-watc_b_568628.html

    Davenhall, Bill. Cancer Maps: The Power o

    Geomedicine at Work. Hufngton Post, June 7,2010.hufngtonpost.com/bill-davenhall/environmental

    -health-canc_b_599524.html

    Davenhall, Bill. Busy Roads, Air Pollution andEnvironmental Health Risks. Hufngton Post,July 24, 2010.hufngtonpost.com/bill-davenhall/environmental

    -health_b_653493.html

    Davenhall, Bill. Is Your Local Water Supply Sae?Hufngton Post, August 26, 2010.hufngtonpost.com/bill-davenhall/water-quailty

    -in-your-med_b_685548.html

    Davenhall, Bill. Geomedicine: What Your StreetAddress Can Tell Doctors about Your Health.Hufngton Post, September 28, 2010.hufngtonpost.com/bill-davenhall/your-street

    -address-can-i_b_737308.html

    Davenhall, Bill. Geomedicine: Using GeographicalInormation Systems to Improve PersonalHealth. Paper submitted or the BridgingPublic Health Inormatics with Personal HealthRecords: Opportunities or Wellness and DiseasePrevention session o the Tenth InternationalConerence on Inormation Technology andApplications in Biomedicine, November 35, 2010.

    Davenhall, Bill. Toxic Chemicals in YourCommunity? A New App Will Let You Know.Hufngton Post, November 9, 2010.hufngtonpost.com/bill-davenhall/my-place

    -history-explorin_b_779166.html

    Davenhall, Bill. Geomedicine Shows Patterns inUS Breast and Prostate Cancer. Hufngton Post,February 7, 2011hufngtonpost.com/bill-davenhall/post_1663_b_817254.html

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    30BibliographyGeomedicineGeography and Personal Health August 2012 30BibliographyGeomedicineGeography and Personal Health August 2012

    Davenhall, Bill. Do You Live in a Food Desert?Hufngton Post, August 29, 2011.hufngtonpost.com/bill-davenhall/ood

    -deserts_b_937277.html

    Green, Rochelle S.; Svetlana Smorodinsky;Janice J. Kim; Robert McLaughlin; and BartOstro. Proximity o Caliornia Public Schools toBusy Roads. Environmental Health Perspectives,January 2004.http://ehp03.niehs.nih.gov/article/ino:doi/10.1289

    /ehp.6566

    Houston, Douglas; Paul Ong; Jun Wu; and ArthurWiner. Proximity o Licensed Child Care Facilitiesto Near-Roadway Vehicle Pollution. AmericanJournal o Public Health, September 2006.http://ajph.aphapublications.org/doi/pdplus/10.2105/AJPH.2005.077727

    Mandal, Rakesh; Sophie St-Hilaire; John G. Kie;and DeWayne Derryberry. Spatial Trends oBreast and Prostate Cancers in the United Statesbetween 2000 and 2005. International Journal o

    Health Geographics 8 (2009): 53.http://www.ij-healthgeographics.com/content/pd/1476-072X-8-53.pd

    McConnell, Rob; Talat Islam; Ketan Shankardass;Michael Jerrett; Fred Lurmann; Frank Gilliland;Jim Gauderman; Ed Avol; Nino Knzli; Ling Yao;John Peters; and Kiros Berhane. Childhood

    Incident Asthma and Trafc-Related Air Pollutionat Home and School. Environmental HealthPerspectives, July 2010.http://ehp03.niehs.nih.gov/article/etchArticle.action?articleURI=ino%3Adoi%2F10.1289%2Fehp.0901232

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    31AcknowledgmentsGeomedicineGeography and Personal Health August 2012

    Acknowledgments

    Portions o this e-book have been previously published in

    Geospatial Today, Hufngton Post, ArcUser, and the Esri Insider

    blog and presented at conerences including TEDMED 2009.

    About the Author

    Bill Davenhall has

    worked in the health

    and human services

    eld since the early

    1970s, during which

    time he has directed

    many dierent

    initiatives that involve the progressive use o inormation systems

    within health care and human-services delivery organizations.

    Davenhall is a requent speaker and writer and is well known as

    one o the leading advocates or the use o GIS to help solve the

    challenges in health and human services. He earned a masters

    degree ocused on medical behavioral science research rom the

    University o Kentucky. Davenhall is the global manager o Esris

    Health and Human Services Solutions Group at the companys

    headquarters in Redlands, Caliornia.

    About Esri

    Founded in 1969 and the worlds leading GIS sotware vendor,

    Esri serves more than 300,000 clients. The health and human

    services solutions sector is a community o more than 5,000

    licensed users worldwide, housed within over 129 national

    health ministries and thousands o community-ocused health

    departments, community hospitals, managed health care

    programs, and health-related businesses. Esri develops and

    supports its sotware through 90 international distributors and

    more than than 3,000 associates worldwide.

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    Copyright 2012 Esri

    All rights reserved.Printed in the United States o America.

    The inormation contained in this document is the exclusive property o Esri. This work is protected under United States copyright law and other international copyright treaties and conventions. No part o this work may be reproduced or transmitted in any orm or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying and recording, or by any inormation storageor retrieval system, except as expressly permitted in writing by Esri. All requests should be sent to Attention: Contracts and Legal Services Manager, Esri, 380 New York Street, Redlands, CA 92373-8100, USA.

    The inormation contained in this document is subject to change without notice.

    US Government Restricted/Limited Rights

    Any sotware, documentation, and/or data delivered hereunder is subject to the terms o the License Agreement. The commercial license rights in the License Agreement strictly govern Licensees use, reproduction, or disclosure o the sotware, data, and documentation. In no event shall the US Government acquire greater than RESTRICTED/LIMITED RIGHTS. At a minimum,use, duplication, or disclosure by the US Government is subject to restrictions as set orth in FAR 52.227-14 Alternates I, II, and III (DEC 2007); FAR 52.227-19(b) (DEC 2007) and/or FAR 12.211/12.212 (Commercial Technical Data/Computer Sotware); and DFARS 252.227-7015 (DEC 2011) (Technical Data Commercial Items) and/or DFARS 227.7202 (Commercial Computer

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